Malas are my favorite tool to assist in my meditation and mindfulness practices. From beginning to end, the process of making and using malas is a rich opportunity to honor our intentions.

Because of the precious energy and intentions we put in to our malas, it is important to care for them like the sacred objects they are.

To start, I strongly suggest to avoid storing your malas by hanging them. This stresses the cord and will shorten the life of your mala. When not using or wearing them I always store my malas in little pouches or in bowls on my altar.

It is important to regularly cleanse your malas’ energy. The easiest way to do this is by burning sage or palo santo over them. I do this with my malas at least once each week, more frequently if I have been wearing a mala in a situation where there has been a lot of negative energy. I also like to cleanse/charge my malas using the sun and the moon. To cleanse your mala using the light of the sun, simply leave it in a place where the sun’s rays will shine upon it directly and leave it there for a few hours. Be aware that solar exposure is not good for all stones- Opal, Turquoise, Amethyst and others will fade under prolonged sun exposure. Moonlight is much gentler and a safer option for all stones. To charge your malas under the moon, first consider the type of energy you are wanting your mala to carry. Different phases of the moon impart different energies- read more about that here. To add a grounding, rooting element you can rest your mala in a dish of dirt or even place it in with a potted plant. Make sure it is in a place where the moonlight will touch it, perhaps in a windowsill or on your patio.

If your mala is made of seed or wood, rub a little olive oil on the beads every now and then to prevent them from drying out and cracking.

If the tassel on your mala gets dirty, wash it in lukewarm water with a gentle detergent. comb the strands and let dry. If the ends of the tassel are looking raggedy you can trim the ends with a pair of sharp scissors.

Avoid placing your malas directly onto the floor or wearing them when using the restroom.

Just remember- your mala is sacred because your precious intentions make it so. Treat your mala with respect and cherish it as you cherish your intentions.

If you have ever met me or H, you know that we have a dream of creating a net-zero homestead in the mountains. Our goal of being maximally self-sustainable guides a lot of choices I make as I consider how to spend my free time. I have always enjoyed learning how to do new things, but now the pursuit of knowledge has taken on a special purpose. Every time I am ready to take on a new project, I consider what kind of things will benefit our family in the future when we are establishing our home.

One of these projects has been learning to brew kombucha. H and I drink it regularly to support digestion through a healthy microbiome, but buying it at the store can be extremely expensive. When comparing store prices to the affordability and ease of home brewing, it becomes a no brainer!

For those who are unfamiliar, kombucha is a fermented tea that is made using a culture of gut-healthy bacteria called a scoby. A scoby, for lack of a better description, basically looks like a thick slice of deli turkey and has a slimy feel. It’s not exactly pretty! Every time you brew it “reproduces” by growing a new layer, which can be peeled off and shared! My first scoby was given to me as a gift, and as it has grown new layers I have given baby scobys to others to start their own brew. If you know someone who makes kombucha, ask them to share their next layer with you! If not, you can also order live scobys on Amazon. I know some people who have used this one and had great results.

Start by boiling a gallon of water in a large stockpot. Once the water starts to boil, turn off the heat and let sit for one minute or until there are no longer active bubbles in the water. Add 1 cup sugar, 3 black tea bags and 3 green tea bags. Do not use flavored teas, as these can upset the ph balance of your scoby. Stir to dissolve sugar, then cover the pot and let the tea steep for at least 15 minutes. I usually just leave the tea bags in until the water returns to room temperature. This won’t hurt your tea and it means you can walk away from your pot as soon as the sugar is dissolved and come back to it later in the day.

Once your tea cools to room temperature, rinse your gallon jar with water and then rinse with white vinegar. Don’t worry about drying it, leave a coating of the vinegar on the inside of the jar and dump out the excess. Add your tea, then add the scoby (which should be stored in some “mother tea” from its original jar- add this to your jar as well). Make sure the rim of the jar is completely dry, then cover the mouth of the jar with a double layer of cheesecloth or paper towels. Secure with a rubber band or tightly tied string. Make sure the covering is well secured! Using cheesecloth or paper towels allows your scoby to breathe, but prevents fruit flies or anything from else getting in. You can store the lid of the jar for some other use, you won’t need it for kombucha.

Store your jar in a dark place, such as a kitchen cabinet, and leave for 10-14 days. The longer you leave your kombucha, the stronger it will be both in terms of flavor and fermentation. Do not leave longer than 14 days.

At the end of this first fermentation period, it is time to prepare for the second fermentation. This is when the kombucha carbonates! This is also where you can get creative with your kombucha. You may prefer to have it unflavored, but if you would like to flavor your kombucha there are endless options!

For unflavored kombucha, remove your big jar from the cabinet and rinse the insides of your small mason jars or swing bottles with the white vinegar. Fill each jar or bottle with the kombucha, reserving 2 cups of it to stay in the gallon jar with the scoby as mother tea for your next batch. Seal the small jars or bottles, then put them back into the cabinet and leave to ferment for 7 more days. At the end of this 7 day period, transfer the jars to the refrigerator and enjoy within a month.

For flavored kombucha, begin by filling the small jars or bottles about 4/5 of the way full with the kombucha from your big jar. Then, top off with organic fruit juice, other kinds of tea, fruit, ginger, or other flavorings! My favorite combination is lemon ginger, which can be made by adding slices of fresh organic lemon and a little knob of peeled, fresh ginger root to each jar. Blueberry mint is also very tasty and can be made by adding mint tea and fresh blueberries or blueberry juice. You can experiment with adding rose petals or lavender, basil, etc! You can find a million other ideas for flavorings online. Just keep in mind that whatever you are adding to your kombucha needs to be organic and clean- anything with chemical pesticides can mess with your culture. Seal the small jars or bottles, then put them back into the cabinet and leave to ferment for 7 more days. At the end of this 7 day period strain any solids from the tea, then transfer to the refrigerator and enjoy within 2 weeks.

You may notice when you prepare to enjoy your kombucha that a small scoby or some stringy bacterial colonies have grown in your tea. This is totally normal. The small scobys can be discarded and while some people choose to drink the stringy bits, I personally don’t have the stomach for it and I choose to discard them as well.

I like to always have kombucha brewing, since we drink a lot of it. To make this happen, I make a new batch of sweetened tea on the morning when I know I am going to transfer my kombucha to the smaller containers for second fermentation. Then, once I have filled the small jars, I move my scoby and 2 cups of reserved mother tea to a clean glass (or any non-metal) bowl, rinse the gallon jar with vinegar to keep it clean, then start my new batch just like the previous batch. If you need to take a break from brewing, you can store your scoby in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. Just place your scoby in a tightly sealed glass container with 2 cups mother tea and enough fresh, sweetened tea to cover it. This basically puts your scoby into hibernation. Once you hit the 3 month mark, you will need to remove your scoby from the fridge and make at least 1 batch of kombucha with it before returning it to hibernation.

**Caution: If your scoby begins to drastically change color, omit a strong nasty odor (aside from its normal, vinegary odor) or shrivel, discard it and the tea immediately. This indicates a problem with your scoby such as contamination or a ph imbalance. It is better to discard everything and start over than risk getting sick from a compromised scoby. To be fair, I have been brewing kombucha for 5 years and have never had this problem. However, it is possible and should be taken seriously.

Have you ever made your own kombucha at home? Do you have a flavor combination that will rock our socks off? Share with us below!

I tend to meal prep each Sunday, and as I consider what to prepare for the week I look at my cycle calendar on MyFlo (best app ever). Will I be in the same phase all week? Will I transition to a new phase half way through the week? I use this knowledge to make decisions and prepare meals that will support me, and my hormones, as I move through my cycle.

During the menstrual phase, the body benefits from foods rich in protein, healthy fats, and low-glycemic produce. These things, along with special spices like cinnamon, help to regulate blood sugar. These food recommendations fall in line with the Ketogenic Diet, so I will often combine the two. The strict requirements of Ketosis help me to avoid the pitfalls of cravings, which in this stage for me often revolve around salty soft pretzels and sourdough bread (ironically the exact opposite of what I should be eating at that time).

One of my favorite recipes to prep for my menstrual phase is this amazing, fatty, tasty soup. A small serving packs a nutritious punch and keeps me full for a long time, eliminating the urge to snack.

Chop the sprouts into quarters, then toss in the coconut oil, salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 400F degrees for 40 minutes, shaking the pan every 10 minutes to mix the sprouts.

Melt the ghee in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno. Season with salt & pepper and sauté until soft. Add the tomato paste and stir consistently for 30 seconds, allowing the flavors to combine.

Add water slowly, continuously stirring the mixture to combine. Then stir in the bone broth powder. Let simmer for 20 minutes, adding the spinach for the last 5 minutes.

I like to divide the soup into mason jars and freeze them for lunches at work. If you do this, make sure you leave about an inch and a half of room in the top of the jar, do not fill to the top. I grab one on my way out the door in the morning, leave it wrapped in a dish towel at my desk and it’s thawed by lunch time! This also ensures that I don’t waste any soup if I don’t eat it all by the end of my menstrual phase.

I recently posted in my Instagram story about how I was adjusting my morning routine on a specific day to accommodate my cycle syncing needs for that day, and received a barrage of responses and texts from my friends, all essentially asking me, “What the f*** is cycle syncing?”. Out of curiosity I did a poll and discovered that 93% of the women I interact with on social media had never heard of it before!

I wish I was surprised, but I can’t say that I am. I had never heard of cycle syncing myself until recently, when I saw the phrase casually mentioned on a health Q+A. I was curious and started doing a great deal of research, eventually finding myself buried in books, articles and testimonials about the myriad benefits of this practice.

So… let’s answer the question! Cycle syncing is the practice of adjusting your food, exercise, mental focus and sex life to the stages of your fertility cycle. Did you know that we have 4 distinct stages in our cycle, and that the fluctuations of our hormones in each stage affect us in a variety of ways? They prime us to be more successful in different types of mental tasks at different times of the month, they influence our energy/endurance levels, make us feel more/less amorous and cause our body to crave different nutrients. By understanding these fluctuations we can make decisions to support our bodies and come into a harmonious flow with our, well, flow. Benefits of cycle syncing can include reduction of PMS symptoms, weight loss and other physical improvements, increased happiness… I could go on and on.

The four stages of our cycle are Follicular, Ovulation, Luteal, and (you guessed it) Menstrual. I’ll be doing more in depth posts about each phase in the coming months, and sharing my own tips for harnessing the power of this practice for your health.

If you are feeling the pull to dive in deep with cycle syncing, I recommend this book and the MyFlo app (it’s the best couple of bucks I’ve ever spent).

I love being in ketosis. My body is strong, my skin is clear, my brain is firing and my energy levels are consistent throughout the day. I never feel better than when I am in ketosis.

What I don’t particularly love is living without some of my favorite comfort foods- particularly chicken fried rice takeout, which is one of my all time favorite things.

Recently while searching for frozen broccoli at the store I stumbled across a bag of riced cauliflower- basically just frozen cauliflower that has been put through a food processor to achieve a rice-like size and consistency. Cauliflower is pretty low in carbs so I figured I would give it a shot, and MAN OH MAN am I glad I did. Game changer.

It’s discoveries like this that make me believe that Keto could be a long term option for me.

A few months ago I joined a community of female travelers and became connected with some amazing women. One of them, Elisabetta, runs the non-profit organization Kurandza.

Based in Mozambique, Kurandza is focused on the empowerment of local women. Elisabetta’s best friend and organizational partner Percina was the first woman from her village to graduate from high school, despite having to walk more than 10 miles to school each day. Her own experience sparked a passion in her heart for the education of girls, and now Kurandza is running a campaign to send 100 Mozambican girls to school. When Elisabetta reached out asking for people to help promote the campaign launch, joining was an absolute no-brainer.

2: Shop from vendors who are supporting the cause! Check #istandforgirls on Instagram to find them! (I am supporting through all purchases made on Etsy and NuSkin through the end of October)

We are facing so many issues in the world today, and direct charity is only a temporary help. We must invest in the actions that will result in long-term change, and educating girls is clearly one of the most impactful things we can do.

Every September the RiNo Arts District in Denver hosts a week-long festival called Colorado Crush, and it is one of the most unique things I have ever witnessed.

For 7 days a group of street artists descend upon a few city blocks in the heart of RiNo and cover the walls in incredible artwork that will remain until the next year’s Crush.

During the week you can walk around the streets and back alleys, watching the artists work and talking to them about their pieces. It’s amazing what they can do with spaces ranging from a little patch of brick between dumpsters to the full side of a 3 story building.

The festival may be over, the the beautiful artwork remains to be seen! Go check it out, and maybe grab a drink at the brand new Lustre Pearl, an Austin staple that just opened a location here in Denver!

Be sure to take a camera, because these murals are seriously Insta-worthy.

I love having Book of the Month Club as a way to discover new literature that I might not otherwise find on my own! The best part is that they don’t ship my box or charge me unless I pick a book, so it’s not a big deal if I forget about it, as I tend to do with subscription services. Anyone else have that issue? I am seriously the worst at forgetting so skip a month. Fortunately I only subscribe to books, wine and more wine, and I’m never mad about forgetting to skip a month of wine.

Update us on your challenge progress in the comments, or share a book we should add to our list!

If you have known me for an extended period of time, and especially if you have ever helped me move, you know that I have long struggled with having a lot of stuff. I owned a condo and lived there for years before I married H, which meant that I had a whole life already set up. I had all the pots, dishes, towels, furniture, etc. When he moved in (along with all of our beautiful wedding gifts) my cute, spacious place became our crowded little place very quickly. Add that to the fact that I have never been a very organized person outside of my work, and I’m sure you can see how this quickly became an issue.

In the 4 years we have been married, we have moved 6 times. Each time I let go of so many things, and feel like I am making real progress- but it is never enough. Every time the next move comes around I discover the same problem. We have too much stuff- and I have had to recognize that aside from the things we had received as wedding gifts, most of it has been brought in by me.

We recently moved into a much smaller apartment, which is forcing me to be more aggressive about elimination. I have been toying with the KonMari Method (will be fully committing to that when I return from this long month of traveling) but I have been adding my own twist. With each thing that I examine, before I decide to keep it or release it, I ask myself, “Does this add value to my life? Does it fulfill a truly necessary function in my daily existence?”

This approach has been working wonderfully for me so far, and I am expanding it to examine my life outside of my material possessions. When I consider how to spend my time, in whom to invest my energy, and what I consume for entertainment/knowledge, I consider these questions.

I have added a page to the top of this site called Favorites, where I will be listing the things that I find truly add value to my life. Feel free to scope it out if you are curious about incorporating this practice into your own life! I would also love to hear about the things that add value to your life! Share in the comments below!